Come on. We were almost there, we even had some nice warm sunny days. I could feel spring!

Not!

But then, yeah you guessed it. It totally snowed last night.

I am not going back to my winter ways. I am rebelling against this weather!

It is April gosh darn it!

Technically I know April is a little early to be breaking out the grill, but let’s just say I am getting you guys ready for that hot spring day when you decide it is time to break out the grill.

Before you know April will be over, mid May will hit and with it will come (hopefully) warm temps! Or maybe you are lucky enough to be in one of those spots where the warm weather has already arrived…lucky you.

Really is there a better way to prepare for outdoor cooking than homemade BBQ sauce!

It’s pretty much any griller’s favorite sauce.

Heck whether you are griller, broiler, Gorge Foreman lover or baker, it is still probably your favorite sauce.

Over here we grill all year round. The boys CANNOT live without their grilled chicken or steak and my dad only likes his fish grilled. Not seared, not baked and not fried. Grilled.

So our grill gets a whole lot of use.

Therefore, we also go through a whole lot of BBQ sauce. Obviously.

Hands down, around here the family favorite is Sweet Baby Ray’s.

The problem? It is filled to the brim with high fructose corn syrup! Barf.

So I made my own. And oh fudge it is good! And like ridiculously easy. It takes me ten minutes to throw together! Yes, just 10 minutes! You definitely can’t get to the store and back in 10 minutes! Plus, my guess is you have every single ingredient in your kitchen right now. Honestly, it could not be simpler and it could not taste better. Even the texture is stop on. Sweet Baby Ray himself would not be able to tell the difference.

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients except the water and corn starch mixture in a medium size sauce pot. Bring to a boil and reduce and simmer for five minutes or until all the sugar has dissolved. If you like a thicker BBQ Sauce add the water and corn starch mixture. Simmer until desired thickness is reached, but watch closely. It thickens really fast! Serve immediately or cover and store in fridge.

I just made the BBQ sauce. It is very good, but I will use less cayenne pepper next time. My mouth is still burning. HAHAHA!!! I had some left over grilled chicken so I cut it up and put the sauce on it. Made me a BBQ chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bun. My husband will probably like it that hot.

Also, I used sucanat instead of the brown sugar. I did not use the corn starch either. It was fine without it.

I love SBR’s sauce, but when I saw that the first ingredient on the label is high fructose corn syrup, I immediately went to look up a copycat recipe that would be a little bit healthier. Thanks for sharing, and I can’t wait to try it this weekend!!

Sweet Baby Ray’s honey BBQ sauce is my favourite! I’ve been wanting to do a BBQ chicken pizza (one of my favourites but the husband “isn’t that into BBQ sauce”…whaaat?) and this looks like the perfect sauce for it with the corn starch to thicken it up. Yum!

Ooh, we are big fans of Sweet Baby Ray’s at my house but I’m trying to get rid of all the sugary junky stuff. This recipe looks wonderful. I am saving it for grilling season, which is soon here in Texas.

I really only buy Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce but I would much rather make my own. This looks mouthwatering! I just pinned this and all I can say is Thank you Thank you Thank you for sharing this! Krista @ A Handful of Everything

This absolutely IS Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce! Once I saw the pineapple juice in your ingredients list, I knew this had to THE recipe! My husband won’t eat any other BBQ sauce except for Sweet Baby Ray’s so I have really had my work cut out for me trying to find a sauce that would compare. This sauce he loved and said it could replace the bottled stuff…FINALLY!

I really like your site. I have started a blog because I love food, have the time, and enjoy sharing. I would like to reblog this recipe with a link to your site. I have made ribs and use Sweet Baby Rays. I would like to invite my readers to see your recipe. Please email me and let me know if this is acceptable to you. I have also Pinned it to Food and Facets on Pinterest. Good job! B

Your photo’s are beautiful… gosh I could lick the screen! Thanks for coming to (link) party with me… Come and share again today at Super Saturday http://www.whatscookingwithruthie.com Have a wonderful day. xoxo~ Ruthie

You’re like an angel sent from above! I go through mass amounts of bbq sauce every week, I’ve tried to make my own…but it always tastes like it’s missing something. I’m so excited to try your sauce out, it sounds delish! And my fiance will be thanking you too lol!

Stopping by from Hungry Little Girl’s 4/23 party to say this sounds awesome! We love BBQing/grilling once the weather turns and SBR’s is the go-to for chicken … but maybe not after we try this instead! If I were a dog, I probably would’ve licked the screen because it looks SO good.

Tieghan, I’m from Sydney Australia and just found a rib recipe that uses Sweet Baby Rays. Never heard of it before but going to look tomorrow. If I can’t find the original, I’ll try your version but would be nice to compare. From the other blogs, yours sounds better. Shall let you know in 2 days time. The strange thing is that the recipe I found adds 2 tsp Worcestershire & 1 tsp vinegar to the Sweet Baby Rays. Hardly seems worth it since your recipe already has those. Thank you so much for your research.

Tieghan, WOW!!! I couldn’t find the original SBRays so I cooked your version. WOW!!! Admittedly I added some chilli flakes as I like it HOT and it was perfect. The mix of sweet and hot was incredible. You should market it as Sweeter Baby Tiegs Rib Sauce. You’d make a fortune. Thank you SO much.

I’ve never made my own BBQ sauce before. I will NEVER buy sauce at the store again!! I could seriously eat this by itself (or at least clean out the pan that it was cooked in). Didn’t have any smoked paprika, so I had to sub regular paprika and 1/2 tsp liquid smoke. Left out the cayenne completely cause I’m not a “hot” person. It was perfect for us. Thank you so much!!

I didn’t make the full quantity, I only had two small racks of ribs but used the same ingredients and it was amazingly good. My daughter who is the BBQ sauce lover in the family has ordered me to never buy bottled BBQ sauce again. Going to make the full recipe and bottle it. Thank you from down under.

Tieghan, the only thing you forgot to say about this recipe is that you need to make two batches, one to eat with a spoon and the other to slather on your chicken! I’ve tried umpteen bbq sauce recipes and this is the ultimate. And where I live, we’ve never heard of Sweet Baby Ray’s!! This will defo become a staple in my fridge

Hands down my favorite BBQ sauce (my family’s too!) I omitted the cayenne and I didn’t see the point of adding water only to add corn starch to thicken it, so I left out ALL water and cornstarch. Consistency is fantastic! Thank you for this!

This sauce recipe is a ringer match for SBR. I used vinegar instead of pineapple juice and also Frank’s Red Hot instead of cayenne powder. I was so interested in this recipe that I doubled it. Something I do that is not covered in any BBQ sauce recipe guide is the use of my slow cooker. Steady heat all round and no scorching. I cook on simmer(180 degrees) for 1 Hour and 15 minutes. It thickens beautifully. The secret to this recipe is the smoked paprika instead of liquid smoke. After experimenting with countless recipes, I know that I’m done looking for the best homemade sauce. You can put this stuff on a doughnut!

Thank you so much. My family and I have been in conflict ever since I banned high fructose corn syrup from the house and they refused to give up their bbq sauce (including my dear husband). I just made this (I did have all the ingredients) and it was wonderful!

This BBQ sauce is the best I’ve ever had! We love Sweet Baby Rays but won’t buy it anymore because we have given up HFCS. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make it from scratch. Thanks for sharing this recipe, we will be using it for a long long time

I’m so excited to find this recipe! Thanks for working it out and posting it. I will be making it this weekend for some meaty pork ribs for the last barbecue of summer.
Everyone says Sweet Baby Ray’s is the best, but like most people, I can do without the HFC!

I’ve made this sauce twice in a week since I’ve found this. This is an amazing BBQ sauce and my husband loves it! We live in Japan and can’t find his favorite sweet baby rays BBQ sauce at the local stores, and this was a lifesaver. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for the recipe! It was delicious for our pulled pork. I reduced the sugar by a 1/4 c and left out the cayenne pepper to make more kid friendly I loved the molasses flavor in it. Everyone thought it was amazing. We will definitely make this again.

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I am Tieghan and this space is where I write about the food I make and the chaos that comes with it. Cooking is the way my creative side comes out. You will find a mix of healthy recipes, cozy comfort food and sometimes over the top foods + indulgent desserts. I grew up with a chocolate freak for a mom, so chocolate is obviously a must around here.